Ballad Health’s Hospital Monopoly Underperformed. Then Tennessee Lowered the Bar.

Ballad Health’s Hospital Monopoly Underperformed. Then Tennessee Lowered the Bar.

Despite years of patient complaints and quality-of-care concerns, Ballad Health — the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly — will now be held to a lower standard by the Tennessee government, and state data that holds the monopoly accountable will be…

Ballad Health’s hospital monopoly underperformed. Then Tennessee lowered the bar.

Despite years of patient complaints and quality-of-care concerns, Ballad Health — the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly — will now be held to a lower standard by the Tennessee government, and state data that holds the monopoly accountable will be kept from the public for two years. Ballad is the only option for hospital care for most of the approximately 1.1 million people in a 29-county swath of Appalachia. Such a monopoly wou…